Abstract

With its judgment of 22 December 2020, in the case Demirtaş v. Turkey the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has confirmed the previous decision of the Second Section, ruling on the initial and continued pre-trial detention of Selahattin Demirtaş, former co chair of the People’s Democratic Party. The Grand Chamber found that Turkey has committed several violations of the Convention. In particular, the Court found violations of article 10 (freedom of expression), Art. 5.1 and Art. 5.3 (right to liberty and security), Art. 3 of Protocol No. 1 (right to free elections) and Art. 18 (limitation on use of restrictions on rights) in conjunction with Art. 5. Consequently, the Court held the respondent has to take all necessary measures to secure the applicant’s immediate release, ruling on Art. 46 of the Convention. The present contribution aims at analyzing the judgment, with particular attention to the findings relating to the violation of Art. 18 in connection with Art. 5, the notion of ulterior purpose and the argumentative structure of the Court’s judgment. The ruling, in particular with regard to the findings about Art. 18, constitute an example of forceful jurisdictional protection of human rights and the rule of law in the context of a democratic crisis such as Turkey’s, in line with the recent evolution of the case-law on Art. 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights